• Dr Liza’s Vet Tales Excerpt – Another African Adventure

Our Interval Hypoxic Training had been going relatively well with us receiving positive feedback and encouragement from the equine community. We were rearing to go hoping that we had a million dollar opportunity. Rob and his team had been developing a prototype for horses and we decided that it was time to organise some robust science to support our anecdotal positive findings in equine athletes, i.e. that IHT training helped to improve performance and recovery of equine athletes the same way it had for human athletes. In order to take our product to the market, this research would be imperative.

Because our company would also benefit from some robust human trials and there was an opportunity to work with one of the world’s leading sports physiologists who resided in South Africa and because organising equine trials in South Africa would be cheaper and easier with my contacts at my old university, I was directed to organise these trials with the help of our company’s sports physiologist Charlene.

I contacted my old equine professor and explained to him what we were looking to achieve. He received our request enthusiastically and made it very easy to arrange a trial of IHT for horses in South Africa.

And so Ash and I winged our way back to South Africa for a few weeks with a threefold purpose: attend Ash’s brother’s wedding and catch up with family and friends (which would include doing vet rounds for our family of pets like vaccinating the non-human members of the family, express my Uncle Cliff’s doggy Sandy’s anal glands, etc.!), initiate the IHT trials at Ondestepoort for the horses and to dive the incredible Natal Coast, an all-time favourite diving area for us, especially since I found scuba diving too cold for me in New Zealand – not being so tough when it comes to the cold Ash had bought me a dry suit to use but I had found that I needed so much insulation to keep me warm that the weight belt that I needed to submerge was extremely heavy and uncomfortable to dive with and I was still cold!

It was fantastic to be back home in that beautiful land and less of a shock visiting the second time around. Our first visit back to South Africa after living in New Zealand was a real eye opener. We had quickly grown accustomed to the safe and easy way of life in NZ and arriving back in Johannesburg having to be so security conscious and also seeing the extremes of poverty we had realised that for us living in South Africa meant that we had to live with hardened hearts in order to deal with the relentlessly difficult and brutal situations that we witnessed.

I realised then and reluctantly accepted that Ash was right, it is much easier living in New Zealand for a couple of gentle souls like us. I will always love Africa and have a huge amount of respect and admiration for the people who live in such difficult conditions and yet still have a warm and jovial smile!

I found it easier to appreciate everything that S.A. has going for it but reluctantly accept that it’s a society that we can’t live in. What I deeply admire is the people sticking it out and having a smile on their face despite the frustrations and many challenges that they face on a day to day basis.

Seeing our family and friends again was fantastic. What I really loved was seeing all our family pets and interacting with them in their environment. It’s great working with animals everyday, but not having to poke and prod them and just appreciate them is a pleasure.

My Mom’s little poodle lookalike “Yogi” always thought that he was in charge of all that went on in the house and believed that he could put the much bigger “Whopper”, a big friendly dope, in his place. Then there was “Spunky”, a smaller but very handsome crossbreed who enjoyed putting Yogi in his place as often as possible, much to Yogi’s dismay.

There was also “Panther” our 20-year-old black cat who my Mom had been expecting to die for years as she’d been getting fairly frail but she kept going and going. My Mom thought that she was senile as she would sit at the fridge meowing for food in the morning and after being fed she would go upstairs satisfied with her meal but then return 5 minutes later to repeat the process as if she was never fed in the first place!

My cat “Bingo” who used to chase her tail endlessly had become very shy in her older age and kept out of the way of the rest of the gang, especially since Whopper had once chased her and she jumped through the window, not an open window but through the glass but thankfully hadn’t injured herself badly.

Then there was “Whacko” our cat better known as “Re” (short for “retard” named by my brothers) who took great pleasure in terrorizing my little brother’s (not at all little anymore!) kitten “Mielie”. Of course Yogi promptly chased “Re” away and marched around the house very chuffed with himself for maintaining the law and order.

While Mielie had a serious love affair going with my little brother David always cuddling up to the nice big hunk in his warm bed whenever she could, Re had a special relationship with my other brother Gav illustrated when I was asked if I should trim Re’s claws so that he’d cause less damage to Mielie but Gav became very offended and protective (a similar offense to what Ash had when I told him that neutering Honcho was a good idea). He went on to explain that when he arrived home in the early hours of the morning, Re is usually waiting for him and they play their game. This involved Gav throwing Re up the tree where he would sit and watch his domain. Gav argued that cutting his claws would cut his odds of landing in the tree drastically and it would therefore be very cruel!

To read more about my adventures, read Vet Tales available as a book or e-book from https://www.drliza.co.nz/shop/